Big, Big Mistake
by SkittleBox
Summary: After a drunken mistake Peyton finds herself in a situation she can't avoid. Will she be left to deal with the repercussions alone? Or can she and Lucas finally make their way back together? AU from around 5x17ish
1. Chapter 1

**So, I had this story up about about five years ago and I took it down because I felt it wasn't any good. I've rewritten this numerous times over the years and this is as good as it's going to get so I'm putting it back up.**

**If you've read it before(Are there even any Leyton fans hanging around anymore?), please read it again. It is a little different than when it was up before. I hope you'll like it just as much as you did before. **

**If you've never read it before I hope you enjoy. Hopefully life doesn't get in the way and I can have the rest of the chapters up within a couple of weeks.**

**Feedback is always appreciated.**

**... ... ...**

Peyton sees Lucas sitting at the bar as soon as she walks out of the Studio. Whenever she's in the same room as him she finds herself drawn to his presence. She can't help it. She can't control it and lately she finds herself wishing it didn't happen at all because at times like this it would make her life so much easier.

Her plan is to go home, curl up in her bed under the covers and hopefully not have to emerge until the following afternoon. Things at the label have been pretty hectic lately. Mia's album has really taken off and is selling really well. And the label in L.A. is eager to release another album. She's just returned from her first tour and is about to embark on another, bigger national tour. With her gaining popularity comes more promotional opportunities as well as what is required of them for the new tour. On top of everything going on with Mia Haley is back in the studio trying, albeit unsuccessfully, to record a new song. The long days at work matched with Baby Angie crying at all hours at home, resulting in many sleepless nights were starting to take its toll on Peyton.

Before she can change her mind she's making her way over to the bar and taking a seat on the empty bar stool beside Lucas.

"Luke, is everything okay?" she asks, placing her hand on his shoulder. If the dozen beer bottles and the almost empty bottle of tequila on the bar in front of him are any indication she can probably guess the answer to her question.

"Peyton?" he stares at her, confusion evident on his face before recognition sets in.

"Yeah, Luke, it's me. What's going on?"

"Nothing. It's nothing. I'm fine," he slurs, pouring himself another drink, downing the shot in one gulp. "No, actually, I'm not. I'm not fine. It's not nothing. I'm not okay… It's Lindsey."

At the mention of his ex-fiancé Peyton's hand falls from his shoulder on to the bar in front of her.

"She was supposed to come back, you know. I fought for her and she didn't come back."

Peyton takes the liquor bottle from Luke's hand and pours herself a drink, shuddering as she swallows the fiery liquid.

She should have known that his current state had something to do with his ex-fiancé and just kept walking. If she kept to her original plan she would have been at home in her bed right now, shutting out the rest of the world.

It hurts, hearing him talk about another woman like this, when she so desperately wants it to be her he's in love with. By now there is another full bottle of tequila in front of them and Peyton has her fair share of the bottle. She's well on her way to being drunk, probably already passed drunk, but she needs the alcohol to stomach this conversation.

They make it to the end of the bottle and Peyton decides it is time for them to leave when more of their drinks end up in a puddle on the bar instead of in their glasses. Somehow she manages to get Lucas into a cab and gives the driver his address. He stumbles out of the cab when it arrives at his place and Peyton follows him when he can't even make it up the path to the front door.

Luke collapses on his bed as soon as they manage to get the door open. Peyton knows she should leave now without entering his bedroom. She got him home safely; there isn't much harm he can do to himself now. But something, most likely fueled by the excessive amount of alcohol running through her system, compels her to follow him and sit next to him on the side of the bed. She comes to her senses and is about to leave when he grabs her wrist, stopping her from going anywhere. The room starts to spin and her vision becomes blurry, but she can tell the distinct feeling of another person's lips on her own. That's when everything goes black.

... ... ...

Her alarm going off wakes her the next morning. She must have forgotten to turn it off the night before. She groans, blindly reaching over to her nightstand to stop the horrible sound, but her hand never makes contact with the offending object. Her hand doesn't make contact with anything. _Odd_.

She finally opens her eyes and realizes why none of her furniture is where it is supposed to be. The fogginess in her head is starting to clear and she is able to start putting together what has happened. This isn't her bedroom and there is no alarm ringing. It isn't even morning yet, it's still dark outside. The ringing is in her head and judging by the pounding headache she concludes she has a massive hangover.

It takes a little longer for her brain to process exactly where she is. She is at Lucas' house, more accurately she is in Lucas' bedroom. What is she doing in Luke's bed? Her mind registers the weight wrapped around her waist. Her bare waist. She isn't just in Luke's bed with Luke. She is in his bedroom in his bed with him and she is naked. Is he naked too? He isn't wearing a shirt and the bed sheet is covering his lower half and she's scared to check. She doesn't remember much of anything after she sat down next to him at the bar. Did they have sex?

They way her body feels right now indicates that they did indeed have sex as she takes in her surroundings their clothes strewn around his bedroom also back up her theory.

She's starting to freak out. She had spent the majority of her evening listening to him talk about how he was still so in love with his ex and how he knew she would eventually come back to him. How the hell did they end up here? And did she really have that much to drink last night that she can't remember what happened?

The thought of going back to sleep besides Lucas is very tempting to her, his arm wrapped around her is comforting, and she's missed the feeling. But she has no idea how he would react in the morning if he discovers her in his bed with him. The scenarios that play out in her head do not end well.

She carefully maneuvers herself out from under him, immediately feeling the loss, and starts searching for her clothes as quietly as she can. She's pulling her shirt over her head when she hears Luke groan causing her to freeze. She lets out a sigh of relief when he doesn't wake up and just rolls over in bed. She isn't ready to face him just yet.

She locates her bag and digs out her cell phone to check the time. It's after 3am and she has four missed calls from Brooke. Shit, her best friend is probably going to kill her for not letting her know she was going to be out late. She hadn't exactly planned being out all night. She double checks that she hasn't left any trace of her being in his room before giving his sleeping form one last look and slipping out through the door.

... ... ...

Brooke doesn't usually worry about Peyton. She's an adult and Brooke knows her best friend is more than capable of taking care of herself. But when she spoke to Peyton before she finished work yesterday she said she was going to be home early and when she couldn't get Peyton on her cell phone she called the label and when Mia told her Peyton had left a while ago she started to worry.

She finally manages to get Angie back to sleep when she hears someone trying to open the front door. By the time Brooke reaches her living room they've managed to open the front door and Brooke sees Peyton trying to close the door without waking anyone.

"Where have you been all night?" Brooke asks, startling Peyton who quickly turns toward the noise, losing her balance and falling to a heap on the floor.

"Jesus, Peyton. If you wake Angie I will kill you," Brooke threatens. "Wait, are you drunk?"

"No," Peyton protests. "I'm hung over."

"What the hell happened to you? Yesterday you said you'd be back early and now you're staying out all night?"

"Can I get up first?" Peyton asks. Brooke waits for her friend to pull herself up off their living room floor. "How do I get up?" she whines.

Brooke laughs as she helps Peyton stand up, placing her hands on her friends shoulders to steady her. "Okay, you're up. Now tell me what happened to you?"

"Nothing really," Peyton lies. "I stayed late at the studio and then had a few too many drinks at Tric afterwards. That's all." Peyton had contemplated telling Brooke what really happened on the cab ride home, but ultimately decided that for now it was something she needed to keep to herself. "I think I'm going to try and get some sleep now."

"Sure. I guess I'll see you in the morning." Brooke watches Peyton suspiciously as she retreats to her bedroom. She knows her friend isn't telling her the whole truth, but she lets it go hoping that her friend will tell her in her own time what is going on with her.

... ... ...

_He leaves a trail of kisses from her stomach to her breasts. He lingers there for a moment before moving his kisses to her collarbone and neck. He settles on top of her and finally captures her mouth with his. He kisses her slowly and deeply, like he has all the time in the world, causing her to writher and moan beneath him. He smiles into the kiss, and then lifts himself up, resting his weight on his arms on either side of her. He stares into her eyes and brushes back the hair that has fallen onto face. "Peyton," he whispers._

Luke snaps awake, sitting up in bed, breathing heavily. That was a weird dream. It had to be a dream, right? He has hardly spoken to Peyton recently, let alone had her in his bed. He vaguely remembers speaking to her the night before at Tric, but he doesn't recall much after that. He was pretty messed up by the time she approached him.

The light streaming in through his bedroom windows hurts his eyes, making his head throb even more. He throws back the bed sheet intent on looking for some Ibuprofen to relieve his headache when he realizes he's naked. What happened to his clothes? Now he isn't so convinced that he was only dreaming. He can see his shirt on his desk and his pants are hanging from his chest of drawers. He's alone in his room and there is no visible sign that anyone else has been in his room recently. He shakes his head, it has to have been a dream. He must have just passed out before he was able to finish changing his clothes. He doesn't even remember how he made it home last night. Though he obviously made it back okay. He collapses back into his bed, throwing a pillow over his eyes. He's not ready to be functioning just yet. He's curious to know what actually happened to him after he blacked out the night before and there's only one person who can tell him. He'll go see her later. But right now, god, he needs more sleep.

... ... ...

Peyton manages to drag herself out of her bed around midday. Her head is pounding worse than it was last night so she takes another couple of Ibuprofen. She hasn't been this hung over, well ever. She just hopes she can make it through the day.

It's quiet at the label when she arrives. Mia is taking the day off, the girl deserves it and Haley isn't able to make it in. She's thankful for the silence though. She really needs it right now.

She isn't expecting anyone to stop by today so it surprises her when she hears the door to the studio open. She looks up from her work to see who it is and her heart stops.

Lucas.

She didn't expect to see him again so soon. Honestly, she wasn't expecting to see him at all. She doesn't even think she's ready to see him yet. Why is he here? How much does he remember? If anything? Surely not, if she can hardly recall exactly what occurred last night she doubts he is able to. But what if he does remember and is here to tell her he thinks it was all just a mistake and doesn't think he can see her again. Her chest aches at the thought.

Now that, she knows she is not ready to here.

"Hi," he says

"Hey," she answers, hoping she is doing an okay job at concealing her nerves.

"This place looks great," he tells her, taking a seat across from her. Peyton remembers that this is the first time he's stepped foot in this space since they finished building the recording studio.

"Thanks."

"How are you feeling today?"

"Like a bomb went off in my head," she says. "And you look like you feel the same way I do."

"Pretty much," he chuckles.

"What can I help you with Luke?" she's been mentally preparing herself their entire conversation for the worst.

"I just came by to make sure that you were okay," he says. "I don't remember much about last night, but I do remember that you were with me at Tric for a while there. I don't remember how I got home and I just wanted to make sure you made it home safely." She let out a sigh of relief. He didn't remember. That saves them from having a potentially awkward conversation.

"Yeah, I got home fine. I put you in a cab and then got one for myself," she lies. Luke hangs around for a few more minutes before Peyton tells him she has some more work to do. Which is true, but she really can't concentrate with him being so close. He leaves with a promise to see her again soon.

Instead of starting on the pile of work still in front of her, Peyton gets lost in her thoughts. What if she hadn't left Lucas' place this morning? If she had just stayed in bed with him. Would there have been a chance for reconciliation? Could they have been together again? Peyton can't help wondering if she had made the wrong decision in leaving.

... ... ...

Haley has been spending a lot of her spare time at Peyton's studio in recent weeks working on her next record. So of course she notices the fact that Peyton seems to have fallen into a weird funk and doesn't seem to be able to find her way out of it.

Haley isn't the only one that has noticed the change in her friend. Brooke has noticed as well, but she is just as in the dark about what is going on with Peyton as Haley is.

Haley has a suspicion that it has something to do with Lucas, but anytime she broaches the topic with Peyton it is brushed aside or ignored completely. Lucas does the same thing whenever she tries to talk to him. Something is going on with her friends and she will eventually get to the bottom of it.

Haley is only trying to help when she shows Peyton the predictions she and Lucas wrote in high school. But seeing the way Peyton is acting as Haley is leaving the studio for the day she wonders if she did more bad than good.

Peyton really hates Haley right now. Okay, so that's not true. She doesn't hate Haley, but she is really becoming frustrated with her friend. And it's completely irrational for her to be frustrated with Haley. Haley doesn't even know what is going on with Peyton right now and she is only trying to help. But, Peyton's been trying to forget her encounter with Lucas, because it is obvious to her that he is still in love with Lindsey, and Haley coming in and telling her that she told Lucas not to marry Lindsey because she believes he is still in love with her and that the two of them should get their acts together and work things out between them is making her even more confused than she already is. The past few weeks she has found herself constantly lost in thoughts of 'What If'. What if she didn't say no to Luke's proposal in LA? Surely, she'd be Peyton Scott by now. What if she stayed the night after their drunken encounter? Or what if she had just told him the truth when he came to see her?

Hearing Haley say these things to her isn't really helping when she is trying to avoid Lucas. Well, avoiding him as best as she can when he is sitting at the bar almost every night only 20 feet from her office. And it is getting harder and harder for her to continue walking every night when she can feel him watching her as she leaves.

She's thinking about her conversation with Haley as she approaches Lucas, who is at the bar again. And it's all Haley's fault. If it wasn't for her saying those things to her she probably wouldn't feel the need to stop and help Lucas right now when she has managed to successfully avoid him for weeks. But even though she isn't talking to him right now she doesn't like to see him like this, plus all the alcohol he's consuming cannot be doing him much good.

"Luke," she nudges him to get his attention. "Come on, let's get you home okay?" It's not easy, but she manages to get him back to his place and into his room. She's standing by his bed, in a very familiar position. She's about to leave when she hears him say her name.

"I hate you."

"What?" she stutters, visibly shocked.

"You ruined my life. I wish you never came back," he slurs, rolling over so he is facing away from her. Tears are brimming in her eyes and she hurriedly opens the door so she can leave before they start to fall. The last thing she wants right now is for Lucas to see her cry.

She's so stupid for believing Haley. For actually thinking there may have been a possibility that Lucas still had feelings for her and they could possibly be together. He still had feelings for her, just not the same kind of feelings she had for him.

She doesn't remember the drive back to Brooke's, but by some miracle she makes it back safely. She's able to sneak into the house undetected this time and it's only when she makes it into the safety of her own room that the tears fall as she collapses onto her bed.

When she finally wakes it is mid afternoon the following day. She finds a note in the kitchen from Brooke letting her know that she and Angie have gone out for the day and they will be back tonight. Peyton knows Brooke is trying to savor the last few days she has with Angie before she has to go home for good.

Peyton is actually thankful that she has the place to herself. It gives her a chance to compose herself a little before she has to see her friend again and maybe start sorting through what she is feeling right now.

Mia calls her a few hours before she's set to leave for the tour. Just to say goodbye and thank her again for arranging the opportunity. When Mia makes a halfhearted joke about Peyton joining her for the duration of the tour she finds herself accepting. It's a spur of the moment decision and totally not thought through and yes she knows she is running away from her problems, but it might just be what she needs right now. She doesn't know how much longer she will be able to keep it together in Tree Hill. The thought of having to see Lucas when she's with her friends makes her anxious and her chest ache more than it already is. She needs time to think, to reevaluate, and being on the road where only one person really knows her may do her some good.

She tries to call Brooke as she's packing her bags, she can't just disappear without letting her know. Brooke's phone goes to voicemail, so she hangs up and dials again. She doesn't want to tell Brooke she's leaving via a voicemail message. She continues to try Brooke to no avail. She finishes packing and starts taking her bags to the door. She has her phone to her ear trying to call Brooke one last time before she leaves. It's gone to Brooke's voicemail again. "Brooke, please call me back."

She's starting to get desperate. She needs to leave shortly. "It's important," she says. She's about to hang up when Brooke rushes through the door calling her name.

"Brooke, What's wrong?" she asks, dropping the bags in her hands and pulling a distraught Brooke into her arms. "Where's Angie?"

"They decided she was well enough to go home. She's gone," Brooke cries.

"Oh, Brooke," she says, hugging her friend tighter.

"Wait, you have bags packed. Where are you going?" Brooke asks.

"I'm going on tour with Mia."

... ... ...

Peyton is really enjoying her time on tour with Mia. It's been good for her. There's always something to keep her busy, stopping her from constantly replaying everything over and over in her head. She might even go as far as saying she's been happy… most of the time. She still has her moments. She's so proud of Mia. Seeing her up on stage being amazing, performing for thousands of fans. It amazes her how far Mia has come and how much she has been able to accomplish since she met the young girl such a short time ago. Peyton knows all the numbers and figures of Mia's career, but this is the first time she's really getting to see it in action on such a large scale. Even when they're out and about in whichever city they're currently in and a group of young girls approach Mia, excited to meet a singer they like makes Peyton beam with Pride. Listening to these girls tell Mia how much she's helped them through some life event or how much she's changed their lives is the reason she's in the business she's in.

Now, she doesn't like everything about touring. Sometimes the bus they share with seven other people gets pretty crowded and uncomfortable. They count down the days until they're staying in a city long enough to get a hotel room. But the thing she hates most about the tour is the tiny bathroom on their tour bus. There's barely enough room to move around, but it's the only private place on the bus.

They're currently in Texas, the sixth stop on the tour. It's Mia's first time in the state and Peyton's only been once before on the road trip they took to they tiny tony of Honey Grove her senior year of high school. This time she's determined to see the Elvis Sandwich.

Peyton tries to dress as quickly as she can in the tiny bathroom without causing physical harm to herself. You need to be quick when you share a bathroom with eight other people. She pulls on the skirt she's chosen to wear, it's been a while since she's worn it, but it feels a little tighter than she remembers. She doesn't think much of it until she tries to do the buttons up on her shirt. It's a new shirt, one she bought just before leaving Tree Hill and she knows it fit her then. She pulls on the sides of the shirt as hard as she can, trying in vain to fasten the buttons. She turns from side to side trying to get a good look at herself in the minuscule mirror. That's when she sees it. There's a distinct swell to her abdomen. She runs her hand over a bump that she swears was not there the day before. No, no, no! This is not happening right now. She has to be imagining things.

Mia's already dressed and is lying on her bunk waiting for Peyton when she rushes out of the bathroom half dressed.

"You aren't dressed yet?" Mia exclaims, sitting up in her bunk. "You do know your shirt is undone, right? I have my interview in 15 minutes."

"I know! My clothes don't fit!" Peyton shouts. "They fit fine last time I wore them and no matter how hard I try I can't get my shirt buttoned and my skirt feels like it is about to burst open any second."

Mia watches as Peyton frantically pulls her things out of her bag and dumps them on to her bunk.

"What are you looking for?" Mia asks.

"My planner." How was she able to fit so much stuff in this tiny bag?

"And that's going to make your clothes fit how?" Mia jokes.

"I need to see if I wrote down when I last had my period," Peyton admits, finally giving up searching for the elusive book. She collapses onto her now messy bunk, letting out a heavy sigh as she brushes her hand through her hair.

"Why would you need… Oh, OH!" Mia trails off as she realizes the implication behind Peyton's statement. "Uh oh."

"Yeah, big uh oh."

"Well, maybe it doesn't mean anything. Maybe you're just getting fat," Mia suggests hopefully.

"I'd consider that if I could remember when my last period was," Peyton says as she shifts through her pile of clothes trying to find something that might fit her.

"Well, when was the last time when you were, you know… with a guy?"

"About four months ago," she says, as she pulls a t-shirt that still fits over her head.

"It's been four months and you didn't notice anything being off?"

"No, not really. I had a lot on my mind before we left and it'd been non stop ever since. I've hardly had anytime to think and besides I've never been one to keep track of things like that." Peyton starts stuffing her things back into her bag, looking for a pair of pants that won't be too tight.

"What are you gonna do?" Mia asks.

"I guess when you're done with your interview I'm going to have to go and buy a pregnancy test," she answers, finally dressed and ready to go.

"Hey Peyton? The Elvis sandwich can wait," Mia says as they're leaving the bus.

Stupid Elvis Sandwich!

... ... ...

"Which one do we pick?" Mia asks. They've been standing in front of the rows of pregnancy tests in silence for a few minutes now.

"I don't know. I can honestly say I've never been in this situation before."

"Well," Mia says, grabbing a random box from the shelf and reading the back of it. "What about this one? It's has a smiley face if it's positive."

Peyton takes the box from Mia and throws it in the basket along with several other tests before heading to the checkouts. She gives the cashier a dirty look when she wishes her luck as they're leaving the store. She doesn't want luck. She doesn't even want this to be happening, but really it's just a formality to confirm something deep down she already knows is true but isn't ready to admit it yet.

"Well?" Mia asks as Peyton exits the bathroom after taking the tests. They're lucky enough to still have the bus to themselves.

"Two smiley faces, three plus signs, and two tests that say pregnant. They're all pretty self explanatory," she says collapsing onto her bunk, dropping the handful of tests beside her.

"Seven positives."

"Fuck," Peyton cries, burying her face in her pillow. She's still in denial that this is actually happening. Maybe if she closes her eyes this will have all just been a dream.

"Okay, so I know I may be overstepping my boundaries," Mia says breaking the silence. "But can I ask who the father is? is it that creepy label guy? You two do have that weird sexual tension.

"Ew, Mia no," Peyton says, shooting Mia a disgusted look. "And no, we don't."

"Oh, is it Lucas?" she continues as if Peyton never spoke. "Is that why Lindsey left? Is that why she hates you?"

"Mia you're really not helping right now," Peyton grumbles.

"Is you not wanting to talk about it confirmation?" Mia pushes.

"Mia," Peyton lets out a frustrated groan. "Those boundaries you mentioned? Way past them."

"This is so messed up."

"You're telling me!"

She's pregnant, and the man who impregnated her does not know she's pregnant, let alone that they even had sex. So yes, she knows exactly how messes up things are.

She's pregnant. _Shit!_


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow, what an overwhelming response to the first chapter! I honestly wasn't expecting any of it. As of right now this is the only story I'm working on I don't have any plans at the moment to reupload my other stories, but that could change later on.**

**Sorry this is a little late, I haven't been well lately. Sorry if this chapter doesn't make sense or has a lot of mistakes it was written/edited under the influence of some pretty awesome pain killers.**

**Hope you like it!**

... ... ...

Peyton doesn't like it when she has to see a doctor that isn't her regular physician. It's awkward and makes her feel uncomfortable, but she knows she can't wait until she's back in Tree hill to see a doctor. There's 8 weeks left in the tour. She would be in her sixth month by then and it wouldn't be healthy for her or the baby. She could leave and go home now, but she's still not ready to face Lucas again. Especially not with such big news. She knows it's selfish of her and maybe it makes her a horrible person, but she just can't.

She's able to make an appointment at an emergency clinic where they're staying and she heads out while Mia is at sound check.

"Peyton Sawyer," a nurse calls, snapping her out of her thoughts. The nurse runs a few tests and takes a blood sample while they wait for the doctor. The doctor arrives about 10 minutes later and confirms what she already knew. She's pregnant. 17 weeks based off of the dates provided. After a few awkward questions the doctor suggests they do an ultrasound to check the baby's growth and that everything is progressing as it should be. The cold gel on her stomach causes her to flinch, but she forgets about it when the screen fills with a picture of her baby. The doctor confirms the baby is perfectly healthy, measuring right where it should be and gives her a due date of December 23rd. Peyton's not really hearing anything he's saying though because she can't tear her eyes away from the screen. She stares at the tiny baby moving around in front of her. The baby she and Lucas made. The baby's heartbeat fills the room and the tears welling in her eyes begin to fall. The enormity of the situation seems to hit her all at once. This isn't the way it is supposed to be. She's not going to lie and say she's never thought about having kids, but every time she's thought about it she was never thought she'd be doing it alone. The baby's father is supposed to be by her side. Lucas is supposed to be by her side. She's doesn't even know if she's ready for this, but now she doesn't really have a choice. In a few short months she will have a tiny human that will depend on her for everything.

She leaves with a prescription for prenatal vitamins and a photo of the baby from the ultrasound. The doctor wishes her luck as she leaves his office and she thanks him all while not taking her eyes off the photo of the baby. Her baby.

"Well?" Mia asks as soon as Peyton steps back onto the bus, snapping her out of a daze.

"I'm not just getting fat," she says and hands the picture over to Mia.

Mia stares at the photo for a moment before saying, "It kind of looks like an alien." Making Peyton smile her first real smile since finding out she's pregnant.

"So, I guess you're going home then?" Mia asks.

"No, of course not. There's still a few weeks left of the tour. I'm not going home before it's over." Mia passes the picture back to Peyton and she sticks it to the top of her bunk.

"But don't you want to go and tell…"

"Yes," Peyton interrupts. "But it won't make much difference if I tell them now or at the end of the tour. It will still be just as big a surprise."

The truth is, Lucas isn't the only person Peyton's not ready to face back in Tree Hill.

... ... ...

As horrible as being pregnant and traveling on a tour bus is, being 25 weeks pregnant and flying across the country is worse. It's only a short flight, but it feels a lot longer to Peyton. She's finding it impossible to get comfortable for more than a couple of minutes in the tiny airplane seats and it doesn't help that the baby has decided her ribs are a good place to sleep.

"Come on, Baby," she says poking her stomach, "Please let me get comfortable." Peyton was terrified when she found out she was pregnant, but after having a few weeks to adjust to the news she's getting used to the idea and is actually getting a little excited for the baby's arrival. She still has her moments of panic and she blames that on the hormones. What she's not excited for is having to go home and tell all of her friends. She's kept it a secret because she's had no idea how to tell anyone, but now that she's returning home there's no way to hide it.

"Hey Mia?" She asks, shifting around in her seat again, her pleading with the baby has done nothing to help her level of comfort.

"Yeah?"

"When we land, you know nothing, okay?" Technically Mia doesn't know much about Peyton's pregnancy, even though she knows the girl has made her own assumptions, specifically about her baby's father, but she doesn't want her friends trying to go to Mia for answers and Mia telling them her suspicions.

Mia looks at her confused. "It's pretty obvious you're pregnant, Peyton." It's true, over the past few weeks her stomach seems to have ballooned.

"I know. It's just, I haven't told Brooke about the baby yet," she admits. She's been meaning to tell Brooke. Whenever they spoke on the phone she wanted to tell her, but her nerves always kept her from saying anything.

"You haven't told her yet! She's picking us up in an hour," Mia exclaims.

"What was I supposed to say? Hey, I'm knocked up. See you in six weeks," Peyton says sarcastically. She doesn't think that would go over well.

"Well it would have been a start," Mia chuckles.

"If I told Brooke then Nathan and Haley would have found out and then everyone else I know would find out and I just didn't want them to found out that way."

"You mean you don't want 'the father' to find out that way," Mia says and Peyton glares at her. Mia's convinced she knows who the father of Peyton's baby is, but anytime she mentions it to Peyton it's ignored completely or she changes the subject. Her avoidance of the subject is just confirmation to Mia that her assumptions are correct.

Peyton's happy when the plane finally lands and she able to move freely again. Peyton's not sure who she's dreading seeing more, Brooke or Lucas. She knows seeing Lucas again is going to be hard no matter what, but Brooke's her best friend and she hasn't told her she's pregnant after knowing for two months. It's partly because she doesn't know what to say, but there's also a part of her that is scared to tell her friend because of how she might react. Brooke's the one who desperately wants a baby and maybe it's just the hormones making her feel this way, but Peyton's secretly scared Brooke might hate her because now she's having a baby and Brooke isn't.

She sees Brooke's smiling face as they walk out of the gate and it makes her feel even worse.

"You're back!" Brooke cries throwing her arms around Peyton. "Oh my god, you're pregnant!" Brooke pulls back, placing her hands on Peyton's swollen stomach. "This is real, right?"

"Yeah, it's real," Peyton confirms. "I'm pregnant."

"Really? I just thought you were getting fat," Mia jokes from beside Peyton.

"When did this happen?" Brooke continues as if Mia never said anything. "How far along are you? Is this why you left? Or did it happen on tour? Were you knocked up by some rock star?"  
"Brooke, I promise I will answer all of your questions, but can we go home first? I'm starting to get very uncomfortable," she says rubbing her lower back.

"Okay," Brooke reluctantly agrees.

... ... ...

"All right tell me everything," Brooke demands before Peyton has even walked through the front door.

"Okay," Peyton says dropping her bags by the door and making her way over to the couch. She may as well get as comfortable as she can now because this will probably be a long conversation.

"How far along are you?" Brooke asks taking a seat beside Peyton.

"23 Weeks. I'm due December 23rd."

"Okay, so I couldn't have happened on tour. Did you know before you left? Is that why you decided to leave?" Brooke is still trying to wrap her head around the news. Her best friend went away for 14 weeks and came back pregnant and by the looks of it has known for quite a while. Even though they kept in constant contact while she was away Peyton never made any mention of the pregnancy and it stung.  
"No, I didn't know before I left. I only found out two months ago." Peyton takes the ultrasound photo out of her handbag and gives it to Brooke to look at. "This was taken just after I found out."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Brooke pouts, finally looking up from the picture. She's genuinely hurt that her best friend hadn't felt the need to confide in her.

"I didn't know how," she says quietly, looking down at her hands. "I've only just wrapped my head around all of this myself. I didn't know how to tell anyone else when I first found out." Peyton's been unconsciously rubbing her hand over her stomach as she talks.

"I didn't even know you were seeing anyone."

"That's because I'm not seeing anyone," Peyton admits.

Brooke gasps, "Peyton Sawyer had a one night stand and got knocked up? Who's the father?" Brooke asks, scandalized.

Peyton cringes, this is the part of telling everyone she's been dreading. "I can't tell you that right now," she says apologetically. A hurt look crosses Brooke's face.

"You can't or you won't? Because you've neglected to tell me a lot these past few months," Brooke says, and Peyton knows she's hurt her keeping this secret.

"I know I've been a horrible friend lately and I'm sorry for that. I bailed on you when Angie went home and you needed me and I didn't tell you when I found out I was pregnant, but I promise I will tell you who the father is. I just feel like I need to tell him before I tell anyone else."

There's silence between the two of them.

"Okay, so when are you going to tell him?" Brooke asks.

"Soon. I was thinking about getting settled first and then going to see him."

"Do you need me to come with you?"

"No, I think I need to do it by myself," she says, pulling Brooke into a hug. "But thank you for offering."

... ... ...

Peyton loves being behind the wheel of the comet. It makes her feel safe. No matter where she is as long as she's behind the wheel she feels home. She's on her way to see Lucas when she drives past Nathan and Haley's house. She's already scared to see Lucas, but when she sees Nathan and Haley's cars in the driveway her plan to see him goes out the window and she pulls into their driveway. She's just as nervous to see Nathan and Haley again as she was Brooke, but it's nothing compared to how nervous she is to see Lucas. She gathers the courage to finally leave her car and knock on their front door.

She waits a few seconds before Haley opens the door. Haley just stands there, she opens her mouth to speak a few times, but nothing intelligible comes out. She's speechless.

"I'm back," Peyton announces nervously.

"This isn't a joke, right? That's real?" Haley manages to stutter out, gesturing towards Peyton's bump.

"You sound like Brooke," Peyton laughs.

"Oh my god. Come, come in," Haley ushers her inside, shutting the door behind her. "Well this is certainly a big surprise," she says, hugging Peyton tightly. "But it's really good to see you."

Haley leads her into the living room before asking her how the tour was, though Peyton's sure that is the last thing on Haley's mind right now.

"It was great. Mia was so amazing. So, is Nathan here?" she asks. She may as well have this conversation once with the both of them instead of two separate times.

"Yeah. Nathan!" Haley yells. "Peyton's here and she brought a surprise!"

Peyton laughs when Nathan sees her for the first time, he looks like a deer in headlights, mouth agape. "I swear I didn't do it," he says when he finally snaps out of it, causing the two women to laugh.

Naturally they have a lot of questions and Peyton answers all of them. Surprisingly though they don't ask about her baby's father and she doesn't offer that piece of information up. That the baby she's carrying is their nephew. She's sure it will come up soon, and of course once Lucas knows they'll know, but she's glad it's not now.

"Well, this is certainly bigger news than what Lucas sprung on us," Nathan says.

"What?" Peyton asks confused. It's extremely naïve of her, but she sort of assumed she would come home and nothing would have changed in his life.

"He and Lindsey went to Vegas and got married," he informs Peyton.

"Oh," she says surprised. Of course he and Lindsey got back together. This whole thing started after a night of drinking because Lucas was upset over her. She should have guessed the first thing he would have done would be to call Lindsey. "They must be really happy."

"They seem to be," Haley says. When Lucas came back from Vegas and told Haley that he and Lindsey were married she was surprised. Yes, Lindsey is her friend but she thought that the two of them had made a mistake and when they finally realize it will end in disaster. They even got into an argument over it and he didn't speak to her for a week.

"I should probably be getting home," Peyton's trying to keep calm in front of her friends, but inside she's panicking. How can she go and tell Lucas he's going to be a father when he just got married? She's very close to losing it and she can't break down in front of Nathan and Haley. "I'm pretty tired. I should probably go home and rest."

... ... ...

"Brooke," Peyton calls as soon as she makes it through the front door. She started crying before she even made it back to her car at Nathan and Haley's and she hasn't been able to stop.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Brooke asks as a hysterical Peyton collapses into her arms and she brushes the damp hair out of her face.

"Lucas is married," Peyton manages to choke out.

"I know. What does that have to do…" Brooke stops, there's only one reason Lucas being married would cause this reaction in her friend. "Oh, sweetie, he's the baby's father isn't he?" Peyton can only nod as Brooke directs her to the couch and lets her friend cry on her shoulder.

Peyton wakes alone on the couch the following morning. Her back's sore and it probably wasn't a good idea to spend the night here. She remembers crying on Brooke's shoulder last night. She must have fallen asleep and Brooke didn't want to wake her. She sits up, stretching her arms about her head.

"Hey, you're up," Brooke calls from the kitchen. She grabs two mugs from the counter top and makes her way back to Peyton. "It's tea."

"Thanks," Peyton says accepting the drink.

"So we didn't get to talk much last night, you want to explain your little outburst?" Brooke's concerned for Peyton; she hasn't seen her friend that upset in a long time.

"I was on my way to see Lucas when I stopped at Nathan and Haley's. I was kind of putting off going to see Lucas," she admits. "But I guess it's a good thing I did because they told me he married Lindsey and I just lost it."

"Because Lucas is your baby's father?" Brooke asks

"Because Lucas is the baby's father," she confirms. "When did they get married?"

"Luke disappeared about the same time you left. He came back a week later married to Lindsey. When were you and Lucas even together? You weren't exactly on speaking terms with him then."

"Remember the morning I came home extremely hung over?" Peyton asks.

"Still drunk, you mean?" Brooke taunts. "I knew there was something you weren't telling me about that night!" she exclaims.

"You're still going to tell him, right? You can't let him being with Lindsey stop you from telling him. He deserves to know and he'd probably figure it out for himself anyway."

"How can I tell him now, Brooke? He's married," Peyton tries to blink back the tears, but it's too late they're already falling. How can she possibly still have any more tears to cry? Brooke pulls her into another hug. "Lindsey left him because she thought he was still in love with me and he must have done something big to make her believe otherwise. He's happy with her. If I turn up and tell him I'm having his baby I would ruin that. And it would look pretty suspicious that I'm telling him just after he's gotten married and he doesn't even know we had sex."

"Sorry, he doesn't know?" Brooke asks confused. "What, did you drug him? How can he not know?"

Peyton shakes her head. "He came to see me that day. He said he didn't remember anything about that night after I sat down with him and I lied and told him I sent him home in a cab."

"Are you sure he doesn't remember? He could have been lying," Brooke suggests.

"No, I think he's telling the truth. I don't even remember the act itself. Just waking up naked in his bed," she confesses.

"But he wasn't with Lindsey then. He'd want to be there for you and the baby if he knew," Brooke insists. She can see that Peyton is talking herself out of this and she can't let that happen.

"God, don't you think I know that," Peyton shouts. She takes a deep breath trying to calm herself. Getting angry right now isn't going to help her or the baby. "Do you really think Lindsey would care when it happened? I refuse to ruin a marriage because of a drunken mistake. He will know. I just can't tell him right now. I can't be the one to ruin his marriage. So can we please drop it for now?" Peyton would never keep Luke out of his child's life. Even if he doesn't know the baby is his she will find a way to keep him involved somehow.

The baby is doing flips in her belly. She'll never get sick of feeling the baby move. It's only in the past few weeks that the movements have been getting so strong, before it was just little flutterings that only she could feel. "Brooke you have to feel this," Peyton takes Brooke's hand and puts it on the side of her stomach where she's feeling the kicks the strongest.

"Wow," Brooke smiles at Peyton in awe as the baby turns in Peyton's stomach. "Is that the first time you've felt it?"

"No, but it's never been this strong before."

... ... ...

"This is just great," Peyton mutters to herself as she gets out of the comet to check the damage. The front tire on the passenger's side is completely flat. Of course this happens to her when she has her first doctor's appointment since being back in Tree Hill.

Brooke is in an important meeting this morning and Haley is teaching a summer school class at the high school so she can't call them to come and help. She calls Nathan hoping he's able to help her. He promises her he'll be there soon and she leans against the side of the comet to wait. She hears a car pull up behind the comet and looks up expecting to see Nathan, but it's not Nathan's car it's Luke's Mustang. Her heart starts racing when he gets out of the car and it's causing the baby to be more active than usual. She starts rubbing soothing circles over her bump.

"I thought Nathan was coming," she says nervously. She isn't expecting Lucas. She isn't prepared to see him.

"He called and said something came up and he asked me if I could come," Luke replies. His eyes are drawn to her stomach and Peyton isn't sure if the news of her pregnancy has already reached him or if he's only just learning of it now. She wishes she knew what he's thinking.

It doesn't escape her that her tire's flat in almost the exact same spot that started this all those years ago and she also called one Scott brother that time only to have the other one turn up.

Luke gets his tools from the trunk of his car because he knows there won't be any in Peyton's.

"I guess congratulations are in order," he says as he crouches down to loosen the nuts on the flat tire.

"I could say the same for you. You're married," she says and she hopes she's hiding how disappointed she is. "I'm glad your happy Luke." And she is, even though it hurts that it isn't with her.

Luke removes the flat tire and goes around to the trunk of the comet to retrieve the spare.

"You don't have a spare tire," he sighs.

"What? No, no, no," she makes her way around to the back of the car so she's standing next to Lucas. And the space where the spare tire is supposed to be is empty. She groans, leaning back against the comet.

"Now I'm really going to be late."

"Late for what?" he asks curiously.

"I have a doctor's appointment," she tells him. An appointment he should be coming too as well.

"Well, if you want I can take you to your appointment and then go and get the flat repaired and a new tire while you're at the doctors," he suggests.

"You don't have to do that Luke," Peyton protests.

"It's no trouble. You need the new tires anyway," he insists.

As they're driving to her doctor's appointment Peyton loses herself in her own thoughts. She lets herself imagine for a moment that things are different. That there's no Lindsey and he knows the baby she's carrying is his. But that's not the case. He is married to Lindsey and he thinks she's having another man's baby. She wants to tell him, just blurt it our right here in his car, but she can't. She's fighting back tears again. These damn hormones. It seems like she's done nothing but cry since arriving home. She thanks him before leaving his car and he tells her he'll be waiting as soon as she's done. True to his word he's already waiting for her when she leaves the doctor's office.

"How'd it go?" he asks when she's sitting back in the passenger seat.

"Good, we're both healthy. The baby is growing. Everything's fine," she tells him.

They drive the rest of the way in silence. Luke is doing that squinty thing he does and Peyton can tell he's thinking hard about something. He pulls up behind the comet again and Peyton hesitates before opening the door.

"Why didn't the father come today?" Luke asks, catching her off guard. She wants to tell him that technically he was there, but before she can think of anything to say Luke continues. "You do know who the father is, don't you?"

She's taken aback. "How could you ask me that?" she scoffs. "Of course I know who the father is!" she bites out and slams the passenger door to the mustang as she exits the car. She leans back down through the window. "Just so you know, he wasn't there because he's an asshole," she says before walking away.

It's terrible of her to say something like that, but him asking her if she knew who the father was like she was the type of person to have slept with a lot of people in such a short amount of time or that she had sex with people she didn't even know just infuriates her.

She gets back behind the wheel of the comet and drives away. She just wants to go home and lock herself away in her room, but she promised Brooke she would stop by the store after she's done with her meeting.

"Hey, P Sawyer. How did the doctor's appointment go?" Brooke asks when she enters Clothes over Bros.

"Good, I'm fine, they baby's fine. There's nothing to worry about." She considers telling Brooke about her run in with Lucas, but decides against it. Lucas is a sore topic between the two and it will probably just end with another lecture about how she needs to tell Lucas he's the father. As if she didn't already know. And after today she's convinced now is not the right time to tell him.

"Did you find out what you're having?" Brooke prods, pressing her hands to Peyton's stomach, seeing if she can feel the baby kick.

"A human being," Peyton laughs. "I thought we already established that?"

"Very funny, Peyton," Brooke rolls her eyes. "Did you find out the sex of the baby?"

"No, I decided not to."

"Why?" Brooke cries. "How are we supposed to plan everything if I don't know if you're having a boy or a girl?"

"We'll just make everything gender neutral. Anything else I can get after the baby is born. Besides I think it'll be fun to be surprised."

"If you say so," Brooke pouts.

... ... ...

Brooke and Haley decide to take her shopping for the baby a few days later. Brooke is still pestering Peyton about the baby's gender. How can she properly prepare for the baby's arrival if she doesn't know the baby's gender?

"I just don't understand why you wouldn't want to know!" Brooke grumbles. They're looking at clothes for the baby and Peyton already has an armful of things that will work if the baby is either a boy or a girl.

"When they asked me if I wanted to know I guess I sort of panicked. What if they said I was having one gender only for me to feel disappointed because I secretly wanted the opposite. I don't know, maybe I'm over thinking it, but I'm pregnant and hormonal. I'm allowed to be irrational."

"I don't know," Haley says. "Some of this stuff is pretty cute." She takes a onesie from the rack and shows it to Peyton. It's yellow with a cartoon yam on the front and underneath it say 'I yam cute'. Brooke glares at Haley, she's really not helping her case right now.

"That is cute. I need that," Peyton says, taking it from Haley and adding it to her pile. "Come on, Brooke, you have to admit that's pretty cute."

"But not as cute as this dress," she says taking a dress striped dress off the rack. "Or what about these adorable overalls. And I could design so many more cute things if I knew." Peyton will admit that, yes the clothes are very cute, but there will be plenty of time after the baby is born to buy clothes like that.

They make their way over to the nursery furniture, and Peyton always finds something wrong with everything they look at. She doesn't like the color of this one or the style of that one or the wood on that crib looks horrible. Finally she gives up and admits she's just not going to find anything she likes today.

"I've been thinking," Peyton says, she's been meaning to bring this up with Brooke for a few days and now seems like as good a time as any. "I should probably start looking for my own place."

"You don't have to do that," Brooke protests. "you and baby are welcome to live with me as long as you want. It's your place too."

"I know, but I'm having a baby. I feel like I should have my own place. We're shopping for nursery furniture when there isn't even a nursery to put it in. Maybe I'd be able to make a decision on this stuff if I knew where it would be going." She picks up one of the stuffed animals in the display crib, inspecting it.

"All right, I'll help you with whatever you need. But please don't feel pressured to do it right now. You don't need to go." Brooke didn't want Peyton to move out, she liked living with her best friend and she'd love having the baby there as well.

"I know what you're thinking, Brooke," Peyton says while chucking the stuffed animal at her friend. "And it's not going to happen. I'm still going to need as much help as I can get with this baby. It will be like nothing changed. I promise."

... ... ...

She can't believe she snapped at Mia. She feels terrible, she really does. She didn't mean anything she said. She's pregnant and hormonal and she isn't sleeping well. The baby's keeping her awake at night with horrible cramps in her legs. The combination of it all is making a very tired and cranky Peyton. Her freak out this morning and the pressure from the label in LA is only making her mood worse.

"Hey," Haley calls entering Peyton's office. "What's this I hear about you snapping at Mia?"

Haley takes a seat on the edge of Peyton's desk.

Peyton buries her face in her hands. "I'm officially a crazy pregnant woman," she groans.

"What's going on with you?" Haley asks concerned.

"John's been calling and pressuring me about Mia's next album. Apparently we're not working fast enough for them and they sent a few songs for Mia to listen to. She didn't want to listen to them and I just snapped. It sucks because I know Mia's album is going to be amazing no matter how long it takes."

"Then what's got you so worked up?"

"This morning as I was getting ready I started feeling Braxton hick contractions and it scared me," she admits.

"Why?"

"I have nothing ready for when the baby comes, Haley, absolutely nothing! And looking for a new place is really not going well. I don't even know what a newborn needs. I'm not ready for this, Haley. I don't know how to take care of a newborn baby."

Haley can tell that Peyton is getting herself really worked up over this and says, "You need to calm down. It's not good for you or the baby," she takes Peyton's hand in her own. "You are going to be an amazing mother, Peyton. And you have a great support system full of people willing to help you with whatever you need. You have nothing to worry about," she reassures her friend.

"But I don't know how to be a mother. I lost mine so young and I can barely remember her."

"Hey, hey," Haley cuts her off. "Don't think like that. Just because you lost your mom when you were young doesn't mean you'll be a bad mom. I doesn't work that way. Now, you're crazy and hormonal which is the only reason why you're thinking this. Go home and rest. I can handle things here for the rest of the day, okay?" Haley gathers Peyton's things and gently pushes her towards the door. "And I will be checking with Brooke to make sure that you're taking it easy!"

... ... ...

"Well, well, Peyton Sawyer." Peyton stumbles. She hasn't heard that voice in three years and she honestly never thought she'd hear it again in her lifetime.

"What are you doing her, Julian?" she asks, she definitely isn't happy to see her ex boyfriend her in Tree Hill, her home. He cannot be up to anything good.

"I'm going to be turning your husband's book into a movie," he answers, a smirk on his face.

"Luke's book is going to be made into a movie?" she asks.

"He didn't tell you?" Julian laughs. "I guess it must have slipped his mind. After all when he told me he was married he never mentioned the fact that he was going to be a father as well."

"It didn't slip his mind. His wife isn't pregnant," she says. She holds up her left hand, showing him that there's no ring. "We're not married."

"I never thought I'd see the day when you would be having another mans baby and Lucas would be married to someone else."

"Well it happened," she says, referring to Lucas marrying someone else. She's not going to tell Julian that she's not having another man's baby because if he knew her baby was Luke's it wouldn't be her secret for much longer. "And what would you know about any of it, Julian? I haven't spoken to you in three years and you don't even know Lucas."

"But I know you, Peyton. And I saw first hand how hung up on him you were and I read his book when..."

"One you wouldn't even touch when we were together," Peyton interrupts angrily.

"You left one of your hundred copies at my apartment," he retorts. "And I decided to read it when I heard my production company was thinking about adapting it into a movie. You wouldn't write that stuff about just anyone."

"So you assumed we just got back together. Whatever, Julian. If you're here to make a movie than great make the movie. But if you're just here to cause trouble go home. Now I need to go home and rest. I'm stressed and you are not helping any." She doesn't believe for one second that Julian is here just for the movie, not after the way things were left between them. He's up to something, but whatever it is will not work because Lucas has moved on with Lindsey. He isn't in love with her anymore and whatever Julian is doing he's just wasting his time.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry this took a while to get up. I haven't been able to get on the computer much lately. Thank you so much for all the reviews this story has received!**

**I'm not really happy with this chapter, but there's only so many times I can reread and try and make it better without thinking of anything new. I hope it's not too bad and I'm just being too hard on myself. On a happier note, chapter four is almost finished and I like it a lot better than I do this one.**

**Please review and let me know what you think.**

... ... ...

"P. Sawyer!" Brooke calls barging into Peyton's room. "It's time for you to get your ass out of bed!"

The further her pregnancy progresses the later Peyton has been getting out of bed, but Brooke will not allow her to sleep in today. She has a big day planned and they're running on a schedule. If Peyton isn't ready to go soon it will throw the whole day off and Brooke isn't going to let all of her and Haley's hard work be ruined. They've put too much time and effort into planning the day _and_ keeping it a secret from Peyton for it to go to waste because she can't get Peyton out of bed. Brooke pulls back the curtains above Peyton's bed letting the early morning light fill the room.

"Why would you do that?" Peyton groans, covering her face with a pillow, trying to block out the brightness.

"Because you have to get up! We need to be out of here in less than an hour," Brooke explains and takes Peyton's hands, pulling her into a sitting position.

"Where are we going?" Peyton asks rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She tries to lay back down, but Brooke stops her.

"You'll find out once you are showered and dressed." Brooke watches as Peyton slowly crawls out of bed and heads to the bathroom. She waits until she's certain that Peyton isn't going to fall back into bed before she leaves to finish getting ready herself.

There's a dress hanging in Peyton's bedroom when she exits the bathroom that wasn't there before. She assumes Brooke left it there because she wants her to wear it today. She finishes getting ready and then goes out to meet Brooke.

"Oh, good you found the dress," Brooke says when Peyton reappears in the living room.

"Well, it was there after I got out of the shower and it wasn't there before," Peyton shrugs. She really does like the dress, but she's tired and cranky and wants to go back to sleep and she doesn't even know where they're going. "Are you going to tell me where you're taking me yet?"

Brooke gives a noncommittal shrug and looks down at her wrist and says "Look at the time, we have to leave." She grabs her handbag and drags Peyton to the front door.

Peyton laughs, "Brooke you're not even wearing a watch! Tell me where you're taking me," she demands.

Brooke doesn't respond, she turns away from Peyton and starts coughing and it's _so _obviously fake.

"Don't you dare fake cough me, Brooke Davis!" Peyton shouts as she follows after her friend, pulling their front door closed behind her.

... ... ...

"We're stopping at Haley's?" Peyton asks as she shuts the car door behind her. She's confused as to why Brooke wouldn't just tell her they were coming here in the first place or why they had to get all dressed up.

"I just have to pick something up," Brooke replies.

"Is Haley even home?" Peyton asks as the enter the silent house. "It's awfully quiet in here."

"She's here," Brooke says mysteriously and leads Peyton into the living room. Peyton gasps in surprise. Haley, Mia, Millie, and(and this really confuses her) Lindsey are waiting for them. Peyton notices the room is decorated in equal parts pink and blue, balloons, streamers the works. Baby shower decorations.

"You're throwing me a baby shower?"

"You thought we wouldn't?" Brooke laughs.

"I hadn't really thought about it, but I guess with you I should have known. I'm surprised you kept it a secret though."

"Well since you are such a big fan of surprises lately," Brooke says sarcastically, teasing her friend and hitting one of the balloons in Peyton's direction. "I though you might like this better. There are a lot of surprises planned for today," she says cryptically.

"Ooh, what?" Peyton asks intrigued.

"Now, that would ruin the surprise," Haley answers bringing her friend in for a hug.

Peyton notices the writing on the balloon in her hand. Brooke hasn't just used pink or blue balloons, she's used _'It's a girl!' _and _'It's a Boy!' _balloons, because of course her best friend who has been bugging her about the baby's gender for weeks wouldn't just get says yellow balloons. "I love the decorations. Who picked them out?" she jokes.

"That would be Brooke," Haley replies.

"Well they didn't have 'I want to be surprised' balloons," Brooke grumbles.

"Now, Brooke, don't be bitter," she laughs. She makes her way further into the room to greet the other guests. She leaves Lindsey for last. She's not sure what to say to the other woman. It's the first time she's seen Lindsey since she returned to Tree Hill. Their conversation is awkward and a little forced and Peyton wonders why she's even here when it seems like she would rather be anywhere else.

"So, Lucas must be pretty stoked about his book being made into a movie," she says. She's trying to be polite, hoping it will ease some of the tension between the two of them.

"Did he tell you about it?"

"No, I ran into the producer, Julian," she explains. "I knew him when I was living in LA."

"They asked him to write the screenplay. He's pretty excited about it."

"I'm sure he is," Peyton excuses herself and goes to get a drink from the kitchen. Brooke follows closely behind her.

"You invited Lindsey?" she mutters to Brooke. Brooke knows about the situation with Lucas and how she feels about Lindsey. She can't fathom why her friends would have invited her.

"Haley and I ran into her last week while we were shopping. She actually asked if she could come. I couldn't just announce right there that I didn't think it was a good idea because it's her husband's baby and her future stepchild. I couldn't think of a way to say no without it being suspicious."

Peyton shudders, "Please never refer to her like that again."

"You've been back for weeks and always find some excuse not to tell Lucas." Peyton never told Brooke about her run in with Lucas the morning of her doctor's appointment. She and Lucas haven't exactly been on speaking terms since that morning. She's only seen him once since and they ended up yelling at each other. She realized she never paid him back for the new tires on her car and went to talk to him about it. Somehow he must have found out that she and Julian used to date and they argued about him and then he refused her money anyway. She hasn't spoken to him since.

Peyton and Brooke rejoin the group and Brooke announces that they're waiting on the first surprise to arrive before they start. As if one cue the front door opens and they hear a familiar voice call out.

Peyton gaps in surprise and turns to Brooke and Haley "You invited Karen?"

"I knew you'd want her to be here," Brooke answers. Karen is the closest thing Peyton has to a mother figure in her life and even if the baby Peyton is carrying wasn't Karen's grandchild Brooke knows that Peyton still would have liked for her to be there anyway and when Haley called Karen she was more than happy come.

Haley had organized for Deb to pick Karen up at the airport so they could keep the surprise. It would be fairly obvious if Brooke or Haley left in the middle of the baby shower to pick Karen up, but Peyton probably wasn't expecting to see Deb so they were able to keep Karens arrival a secret. The two women enter the room and Peyton immediately gets up from her place to embrace Karen.

"Look at you," Karen says as she pulls back from the hug.

"I'm huge, huh?" Peyton laughs, placing her hands on top of her stomach.

"Oh, stop," Karen protests. "You look beautiful."

"Thank you so much for coming," Peyton says gratefully. "It means a lot that you would come all this way."

"Nonsense, I wouldn't miss it! Besides, it's about time I came back for another visit. How long do you have left?" Karen asks.

"About ten weeks, though I'm ready for it to be over now."

Lindsey watches as Karen interacts with Peyton. She's jealous of the relationship that her mother in law shares with her husband's ex girlfriend. She and Karen aren't that close and apart from her first, failed, wedding to Lucas this is only the third time they've seen each other.

Shortly after Karen arrives Brooke announces that they're going to play a game. Haley pulls out a roll of toilet paper and instructs everyone, excluding Peyton, to tear off as much as they want and pass it around. No explanation given, they will explain what it is for after everyone has their piece.

"Okay, so normally the rules of the game are to measure the mother to be's belly and the person who comes the closest wins," Brooke starts.

Peyton looks to Brooke and Haley, her two best friend have the longest lengths, nearly double the amount everyone else has. "You really think I'm that big? Thanks a lot you guys!" she pouts petulantly, crossing her arms. Brooke and Haley laugh because Peyton's swollen abdomen is making it hard for her to keep her arms crossed.

"But," Brooke continues. "Haley and I decided that instead for every sheet of toilet paper that you have you have to say something nice or encouraging or give advice to the mother to be. Okay, now me first."

Brooke doesn't even make it halfway through her length before tears are rolling down Peyton's face. She blames the hormones. Haley takes her turn after Brooke and Peyton is only crying harder.

"I really don't like you two right now," she says through her tears.

Karen volunteers to go next. Hearing Karen talk about how proud she is of the woman Peyton's become and how she knows she'll be a wonderful mother is just too much for Peyton. She didn't think it was possible, but the tears are falling harder. Karen stops and comes and sits on the arms of Peyton's chair. She gives her a tissue to wipe her eyes and wraps and arm around her shoulder, giving her a moment to calm down.

"Thank you," Peyton says, not for the tissue, but for what she said. Hearing Karen, who is an amazing mother herself, say that she believes Peyton can do this is actually relieving a little of her anxiety.

Karen must have understood the meaning behind her words because she says, "I meant every word." So only Peyton can hear.

Once Peyton's calm again they decide it's probably not the best idea to continue with the game right now so Brooke announces it's time to open presents. Peyton unwraps her gifts and there are a lot of baby blankets and wraps, which is perfect because the baby will be born in the middle of winter. Her favorite though is the set Karen bought in Italy.

She unwraps Haley's present and inside is a beautiful baby keepsake book. It's a pale green with animals on the cover and a slot for a photo which has been filled with her latest ultrasound photo.

"Thank you. It's beautiful," she tells Haley.

"Okay, my presents now," Brooke says and she leaves the room and comes back with her arms full of presents.

"Brooke, are you insane?" Peyton asks as at least a dozen gifts are set down in front of her.

"I tried to stop her," Haley says, adding to the pile. "But, it was like she was possessed."

"I was not that bad," Brooke insists.

"Yes, you were," Haley retorts.

"Oh whatever, Peyton just open them," Brooke says excitedly.

Brooke has given her enough clothes that she won't need to worry about buying new ones until the baby is at least six months old, though knowing Brooke they'll be shopping for more as soon as the baby's born. She saves the biggest box for last. She lifts the lid and inside is a crib bedding set from both Brooke and Haley. She notices the animals on the set look very similar to the ones on the book Haley gave her and when she compares the two they're identical.

"Is there some kind of theme here?"

... ... ...

A couple of hours later the others have left so it's only Peyton, Brooke, Haley and Karen. Haley and Karen are sharing stories from when Jamie and Lily were babies when Brooke's phone rings.

She checks the caller id and says, "I have to take this," before leaving the room. Peyton looks to Haley with a puzzled look on her face, but Haley averts her eyes and Peyton knows there's something going on.

"What is it?" she asks, but before Haley responds Brooke reenters the room telling her it's time for the next surprise.

"There's more?" Peyton laughs. "Wait, what are you doing?" she protests when Brooke tries to put a blindfold on her.

"The surprise is somewhere else and you can't know where." Peyton reluctantly lets her friend put the blindfold on. Brooke takes one hand and Karen has the other as they lead her out of the house.

"Brooke, if you let me trip I will kill you" Peyton warns.

"Will you at least give me a clue as to where you're taking me?" Peyton asks. "Are you just driving me around in circles so I don't know where we are?"

Brooke laughs and says, "I'm not telling you anything."

"Karen?" Peyton asks the woman next to her hopefully.

"Oh, no. I've been sworn to secrecy, Peyton," Karen apologizes.

"You too?" Peyton complains. It's silent in the car for the rest of the trip. Peyton's pouting and Brooke and Haley find it hilarious. Peyton finally feels the car slow to a stop and her friends help her exit the car. Peyton goes to remove the blindfold but Brooke stops her.

"Not yet. You have to promise me that you won't ask questions until I say so, even though i know you'll want to. I promise that everything will be explained soon enough."

"Okay, I promise," she relents. She's no longer pouting, her curiosity has gotten the best of her. She has no idea what is going on, but she's eager to find out. The blindfold finally comes off and Peyton gasps. They're standing in front of a very nice small brick house. "Brooke, you didn't…"

"You promised," Brooke interrupts. "Just wait until we are inside. It's worth it." The four of them make the short walk up the path to the front door and Brooke hands the keys to Peyton. Peyton has no idea what Brooke has planned here, but she takes the keys and her hands are shaking as she unlocks the front door. She takes in her surroundings and does a double take when she notices someone standing in the middle of the hallway.

"Daddy?" she asks shocked. She's only spoken to her father a few times in the past few months and when she last spoke to him he told her he was very busy with work at the moment and wouldn't be able to make it back until after the baby is born. "What are you doing here?" she closes the gap between them and throws her arms around him, hugging him as tight as she can. Suddenly remembering where they are she asks, "What is this place?"

"You know I downsized after I sold the old house, but I haven't been back much in the last few years. I don't really have much use for the place, but you do so it's yours."

"But how…" she stutters. She takes in her surroundings, the house appears to be fully furnished and it seems like new furniture and she knows her dad would never be able to do any of this by himself.

"Thats's all Brooke's doing," he says. "She called to see if I could come home to surprise you at the baby shower and she mentioned you were looking for a place of your own, and she was more than happy to do the work to get it ready for you."

Brooke shows her through the house and Peyton loves what her friend has done with it. It's like she picked everything out herself. She's starting to feel overwhelmed by it all and she's about to cry again.

"I think I might go into premature labor if you have any more surprises up your sleeve," she jokes. "I'm kidding," she says when she sees her friends shocked faces.

"Good, because there is just one more thing we have for you." She guides Peyton back down the hallway and they stop in front of a closed door they passed before. "You need to close your eyes again," Brooke says and Peyton does so without protesting, curious to see what her friends have managed to do this time.

Brooke leads her into the room and positions her so she's standing right in the middle of the room and then tells her to open to eyes. Peyton gasps in surprise. She's standing in what will the baby's nursery. The walls are a pale green and will work whether the baby is a boy or a girl and she knows how hard it must have been for Brooke to do that. It's the only room in the house without furniture, they thought Peyton would like to pick the furniture herself. There's a wallpaper trimming and other wall decals that match the animals from the bedding set they gave her. Nathan and Lucas are putting up the last of the wallpaper and Peyton watches them work for a second, glad that Lucas is contributing to the baby's nursery in some way. Even if he doesn't know why it is so important.

"How did you do all this?" Peyton asks turning her attention back to her friends. "You've both been so busy lately."

"I may not have told you the complete truth about the _work _I've been doing the past few weeks," Brooke explains.

"You lied to me!" Peyton accuses.

"Not really, I just didn't divulge some key information regarding the work I was doing," Brooke laughs.

"Thank you guys so much," she says, hugging them as close as her ever expanding stomach will allow. "I love it so much."

She spends her first night in the new house with Brooke and her father. Brooke tells her they'll be moving the rest of her things in tomorrow and Brooke insists that Peyton will not have to lift a finger. And it be bewilders her how amazing her friend and family really are.

… … …

Brooke insists they go shopping again for the nursery after Peyton's has a few days to settle into her new home and Brooke tells her they won't be leaving the store until she has chosen everything she needs. Brooke would have just picked all the furniture out herself, but thought it would be something Peyton would like to do.

But when Peyton and Haley arrive at the store Brooke is no where to be seen, so after waiting for a few minutes they decide to start without her. Peyton feels a lot better about shopping today than she did the time they were here previously. Not having the stress of trying to find her own place and the wonderful things her friends said at her baby shower has relieved a lot of her anxiety over the baby's arrival. They've been wandering around the store for about fifteen minutes when Brooke finally rushes over to them.

"Sorry I'm late. My meeting with _that director_ went late, "Brooke says, trying to play it off like it's no big deal so her friends won't ask too many questions.

"With Julian?" Haley asks. Peyton hasn't seen Julian since that day at Tric, and things with the movie were progressing pretty quickly. Brooke told Peyton that Julian has asked her to do the costumes for the movie and she knows that Brooke is taking the role very seriously.

"Wasn't that last night?" Peyton asks, raising an eyebrow at Brooke. "That's an awfully late meeting." Brooke face flushes at Peyton's teasing. "You like him!"

"No!" Brooke protests a little too quickly. "I don't know," she sighs.

"I'm glad you're happy B. Davis, but just be careful around him. I don't want you getting hurt." She may have to stop by and pay Julian a visit, warn him that she's not against bodily harm if he ever does anything to hurt her best friend.

To take the subject away from whatever she and Julian are, Brooke turns to the closest crib and says, "What abut this one?" without really looking at it.

"Are you kidding? It's shaped like pumpkin," Peyton deadpans. She looks at the price tag and scoffs, "And way too expensive," she says showing the price tag to Brooke and Haley. "Doesn't really seem like me does it?"

The look around a little more before Haley stops in front of a set that she thinks will be perfect. The set comes with the crib, change table and a chest of drawers. Peyton like the style, it's simple, but feels sturdy and when she checks the price tag it doesn't make her eyes bulge.

"I think this is the one," she says.

They leave the store an hour later after buying everything Peyton could possibly need and she is ready to go home and relax. "I hope you can convince Nathan to help put all this together, because there's no way I'll be able to do it," she laughs as she's saying goodbye to her friends.

"Don't worry, I think I can persuade him to be there," Haley says.

… … …

Since entering her third trimester Peyton has taken to staying home more often and only going into the studio when it is absolutely necessary. Mostly at Haley's instance, but Peyton has been constantly tired lately so she isn't really complaining. Her feet are swollen and she's pretty sure she has a few bruised ribs from the baby constantly kicking them. She's counting down the days until it's all finally over.

She's surprised when Lucas calls her a few days after she's moved in and asks if she wants any company. She's hardly spoken to him since being back in Tree Hill. She's even more surprised when she finds herself saying yes. She must really be going crazy home by herself.

She hears a knock on the door and tells Luke to come in. She's sitting down and she's relativity comfortable, which is a rare occurrence lately so she's not going to get up and ruin it. He hands her a take out container when he reaches her in the living room.

"What's this?" she asks.

"Spinach and pumpkin lasagna," he says. "You said you were craving it, remember?"

"But I hate spinach," she says, removing the lid and looking at the food in disgust.

"I know and I reminded you of that fact," he laughs. "But you said that's what the baby's wants and I went to three different places to find it for you."

"Oh, right."

"And you don't want it anymore do you," he sighs.

"Not really. I'm sorry," she says passing the container back to him.

"I'll put it in the refrigerator incase you want it later," he says making his way to the kitchen and Peyton leaves her comfortable spot to follow him.

"So Larry's gone?"

"Yeah he had to get back to work," she explains." He'll be back for christmas though. Not that I don't mind the company, but why did you call?" she asks, changing the subject. She hasn't seen him since the day she moved into the house and they didn't exactly have much time to talk with everyone around. "Aren't you really busy with the movie and coaching… and Lindsey?" She's tying to get information of out Luke about his relationship with Lindsey. None of their friends have even seen the two together since they were married and Peyton's starting to wonder if she would even be ruining anything by telling Lucas the truth.

"I'm not actually that busy right now. I'm almost finished the first draft of the screenplay. There's still a few more weeks before Practice is really crazy and Lindsey is working in New York right now. I've got plenty of time on my hands…" He trails off standing in front of the refrigerator with the take out container in his hand and Peyton's about to ask him if he's okay, but then he asks, "Is this the baby?" and she remembers she has her latest sonogram picture there.

"Yeah, they did a 3D ultrasound at my last appointment," she says standing behind him. "Pretty cool, hey?"

"Yeah it is," he agrees. "Are the any other pictures?" he asks opening the refrigerator and putting the food inside and then takes a seat at the dining table.

"Yeah, I'll go get them." She waddles, and yes it's more of a waddle than a walk these days, to her bedroom to retrieve the rest of the pictures. She hands him an envelope and takes a seat across from him. "There aren't too many good ones, mostly just arms and legs. The baby was moving around too much," she explains.

"All arms and legs, just like their mother," he teases.

"Funny, Luke," she glares at him playfully. "So is Lindsey spending a lot of time in New York?" she asks cautiously. She doesn't want him to think she's trying to pry into his marriage(_She is_) and cause another argument. Things seem to be going okay between them again and she's reluctant to ruin it and risk the chance they may not talk for a while again.

"Yeah, it's easier for her to work from there instead of splitting all of her time," he says nonchalantly, not taking his eyes off the photos.

"Makes sense," she says, even though to her it makes no sense at all.

Luke finishes looking at the photos and hands them back to her. "Are you going to Nate and Haley's for thanksgiving?" he asks.

"Yes," she answers. "Will you and Lindsey be there?" She really hopes they won't be there together. She'll need to mentally prepare herself if she's going to spend the day watching them be newlyweds.

"I will. Lindsey's going to be at her sisters," he tells her.

"Oh, You aren't going with her?"

"No, I always spend the holidays with Nathan and Haley. It's become sort of a tradition."

Peyton contemplates the new information she's learned about Lucas. He's practically living a separate life from his wife.

"Hey Luke," she's going to tell him, _now_, she decides. Whatever happens can't be that bad, right? But then his phone rings and he tells her he needs to go.

He leaves before she can say anything and she's left wondering what happened.


	4. Chapter 4

**Two chapters in one week. I'm on a roll. Thanks you so much for all the reviews. They mean a lot.**

**I hope you enjoy the chapter and please review.**

**... ... ...**

Brooke really did an excellent job with Peyton's place. Her bedroom is one of her favorite rooms of the house, the walls are red and it takes her back to when she was in high school. She's almost finished unpacking all of her things she brought over from Brooke's. It's mainly just her music that is still in boxes. She just doesn't have the space to put them out at the moment. That was one thing Brooke hadn't taken into account, Peyton's extensive music collection.

The nursery furniture was delivered a few days ago and she's just waiting until Nathan has some time to put it together. She's getting impatient though. She heads down the hallway towards the nursery, she's still in shock that Brooke did all this for her. She absolutely loves the room and wouldn't change anything about it. She sits in the rocking chair, currently the only piece of furniture that doesn't need assembling, and looks around the room. Her favorite the about the nursery is the big intricate tree decal on one of the walls. There're monkeys swinging from branches and a giraffe eating the leaves and a lion and a zebra nearby at the base of the tree, she thinks it would be a good spot to put the crib under.

She's absentmindedly rubbing her stomach looking around the empty room, with everything in boxes and she just can't stand it any longer. She starts opening boxes and laying the pieces out on the floor. She's just checking that nothing is missing, she rationalizes. She doesn't want to wait until Nathan gets here only to find out that something is missing from a box and it has to be put off again. It occurs to her though when she's standing there with the instructions in her hands and everything laid out in front of her, thats she could probably do this herself.

"We can do this, Right baby?" she says, talking to her stomach. It can't be that hard, can it?

She fails on her first try and realizes it isn't as easy as she originally thought. She checks the instructions again and thinks she has it figured out. She is about to try again when she hears the front door open.

"P. Sawyer," Brooke calls out.

"In here," Peyton answers and the crib pieces she has in her hand clatter to the floor and she lets out a frustrated sigh.

Brooke follows the sound of Peyton's voice towards the nursery and says, "I brought some lunch over," she stops short when she sees Peyton sitting on the floor surrounded by unassembled furniture. "What are you doing?" she asks concerned.

"I may have been trying to assemble the crib," she says indicating the mess around her that is somehow supposed to resemble a crib.

"Why?"

"Because I've been so bored just sitting around at home doing nothing. It looks a lot easier than it is," she admits sheepishly. "What did you bring for lunch?" she asks changing the subject and her stomach growls loudly making both women laugh.

"I got some of that chicken cacciatore from the Italian place you've been so crazy about lately," Brooke leaves the nursery and makes her way to the kitchen. Peyton tries to follow, but she can't. She's stuck.

"Brooke," she calls, "I need a little help." Brooke laughs and walks back to Peyton and helps her to stand. When they make it to the kitchen Peyton grabs the plates and they dish up the food.

"So, I thought you were coming around tonight," Peyton says between bites, groaning as they food satisfies her cravings. "Why the change of plans?"

"Oh, well Julian…"

"Julian?" Peyton interrupts. "You're ditching me for a boy?" she scoffs, feigning annoyance.

"Oh, um well," Brooke stutters nervously. She knows how crazy Peyton's hormones have been lately and she doesn't want her friend to think she doesn't want to see her.

"I'm just teasing Brooke," she laughs and Brooke sighs in relief. "What are the big plans that are causing you to leave me here? By myself. All alone,"

"It's just dinner, nothing fancy," Brooke explains. "He has to go back to LA soon, something to do with the movie." she's acting like it's not a big deal, but it kind of is.

"Aw, and he wants to spend all of his time with you," Peyton taunts, waving her fork in her friends direction. "Where's the big date taking place?"

"I don't know," Brooke says letting out a frustrated groan. "How am I supposed to know if I'm dressed appropriately if he won't tell me where he's taking me?"

Peyton laughs, "I'm sure whatever you decide will be fine. Is he coming to Nathan and Haley's for thanksgiving?"

"I don't know. Haley told me to invite him, but I haven't asked him yet because I don't know if he'd want to."

"I'm sure he'll come if you ask him," Peyton says and she thinks that even if Julian really didn't want to go he still would because the Julian she sees when Brooke is around is very different to the Julian she used to know. "You two seem to be getting very serious."

"I guess," Brooke agrees and she supposes things are getting serious between them. They've had a few hiccups early on, but things were definitely going really well now. Peyton grins at Brooke who is obviously lost in thought with a stupid smile on her face.

"I'm glad you're so happy, Brooke."

Peyton helps Brooke get ready for her date and she looks phenomenal in the outfit she decides to wear. She grills Brooke for details as she helps with her hair because she's living vicariously through her friends right now and who knows when she'll have a reason to ever dress up like this again.

"Are you sure you'll be all right by yourself?" Brooke asks as she does the finishing touches to her makeup. Even though she knows Peyton was only joking earlier she does feel bad about leaving her.

"I'll be fine," Peyton reassures her. "Have a great time."

"Okay." Brooke gathers up her things, double checking that she has everything and prepares to leave, but then she stops and turns back to Peyton. "Just promise me that you would attempt to try and put the nursery furniture together again. Who knows how long it will be before someone will come to help you off the floor," she says it good-naturedly, but she honestly wouldn't put it past Peyton to get a little crazy and attempt it again and she's worried Peyton might not be so lucky next time.

"I promise," Peyton swears. "Now get out of here!"

… … …

"You're here!" Peyton says when she opens her front door and Nathan is standing on the other side. "Finally," she throws in as she grabs him the the arm and pulls him through the doorway.

"I've been busy," he laughs. She's about to close the door when Luke walks in, startling her.

"Sorry, I didn't see you there," she says.

"It's okay. I thought Nate could use the help," he says shoving his hands into his pockets.

She's surprised he's here, though really she shouldn't be. Ever since the first time he came around he's been calling and asking if she needs anything or just stopping by unannounced.

Nathan and Lucas make their way to the baby's room. Both, having spent so much time here in the weeks before Peyton moved in, know exactly where to go.

"What happened in here?" Nathan asks when he sees what a mess the nursery is in.

"I may have attempted to put the crib together myself," she admits sheepishly.

"Why? You could have hurt yourself, Peyton!" Luke scolds her.

"Don't worry, Brooke already lectured me about it," she says. "I was just so bored and I thought it was a good idea at the time. It looked a lot easier than it was."

"Where did you even find any tools to use?" Luke asks in disbelief. He knows Peyton wouldn't own anything like that.

She nudges the tool box next to the boxes and says, "My dads tools and stuff are still in the garage." She sits in the rocking chair and watches the two of them work, the father of her baby and his brother setting up the nursery. The way it should be. When Lucas started calling and coming around all the time, her first thought was that he knew. Knew he was the father of her baby, but didn't say anything and she panicked. But if Lucas had any suspicion that there was any possibility that he was the father he wouldn't be able to keep quiet about it. She's wanted to tell him every time she's seen him, but she lost her nerve when he left so abruptly the first time that she just hasn't been able to bring herself to do it again. No, there has to be another reason why he is coming around so often, but she can't be certain what it is. He probably just feels sorry for her because he believes she is doing this alone.

A part of her is glad he is getting to experience all the things a father usually would because when he finally does know the truth he will have been involved all along and won't have missed out on anything. But there's also a horrible, selfish part of her that wishes he isn't around because it hurts her every time she sees him, knowing that he's still married to someone else and that they'll never be together..

It takes a few hours, but they finally have all the furniture assembled and move it to where Peyton wants it. If it stays there until the baby's born is another thing entirely. Peyton's been changing he mind about a lot of things lately.

Nathan leaves shortly after everything is finished, he has a slam ball game tonight and needs to get going. Lucas hangs around though and helps her put things away in the nursery. Now though, it doesn't surprise her that he stays.

"How's practice going?" she asks, breaking the silence between them. She needs to keep the conversation going otherwise she'll get too lost in her thoughts and then she might say something stupid.

"Really well. The team is improving a lot this year. They might make it somewhere this season." he hands her a pile of the baby's clothes he's folded for her to put away and then says, "I was thinking that we could go to Nate and Haley's together next week."

"Do you think that's wise?" she asks skeptically. Surely, his _wife _will not be okay with the two of them going to thanksgiving dinner with their friends together.

"Why?"

"Do you really think Lindsey will be happy if we go together?"

"She won't care," he says. Peyton shakes her head, is he really that obviously to the fact that she and his wife just do not get along?

"Look, if you don't want to it's fine. I just thought you wouldn't want to drive, being in your last month and all."

"Brooke can take me if I don't feel like diving."

"I live closer, " he argues. "Come on, Peyt."

"Okay," she relents, against her better judgement. Even though he says Lindsey will be fine with it, she just doesn't believe that's so. She wants to ask him why he's doing this, but she holds her tongue because things have been going so well, they haven't argued at all lately and she doesn't want to seem like she's ungrateful for everything he's doing for her.

… … …

"Peyton!" Luke calls as he enters her house on thanksgiving morning. He just walks in, he doesn't bother to knock anymore. She hardly gets up to answer the door these days anyway. He chuckles to himself thinking about how frustrated she gets when she has trouble moving around.

"I'm nearly ready," Peyton says, ducking her head out of her bedroom. "I overslept," she explains before going to finish getting ready. She steps into the dress Brooke has given her for today and she can't reach the zipper to zip the back of the dress.

"Ugh, I knew I should have had Brooke pick me up," she groans, frustrated.

"What's wrong?" Lucas asks, standing in the doorway of her room.

"Nothing," she tells him, while still struggling with the zipper. She's considering just looking for a jacket that will cover the back of her dress when Lucas pushes himself away from her door and makes his way over to her.

"Stand still," he tell her firmly. He stops her hands with his own and zips the dress for her. His hands linger at the base of her neck. She can feel his breath on her neck and it sends a shiver down her spine.

"Are my hands cold?" he asks, but doesn't move his hands. She turns her head slightly and realizes just how close he is to her, how close his lips are to hers. She can't be this close to him, not with the way she feels about him, not when he's married.

"It's fine," she says, though it really isn't. "I should finish getting ready."

"Right," he says, snapping out of his thoughts, moving his hands away quickly as if they've been burned. He turns to leave the room, but trips on one of the boxes that still haven't been unpacked. He stumbles, but manages to catch himself before he hits the floor.

"What is all this?" he asks while rubbing his shin.

"My music. I don't have the space to unpack it at the moment. I'm sorry," she apologizes.

"I'll, uh, wait for you in the living room," he says before leaving the room.

Peyton's nervous being in the car alone with Lucas. It's crazy because they've been alone together multiple times together in the last few weeks, but after whatever the heck that was in her bedroom this morning, it just feels different. She thought she'd been doing well hiding her feelings for Lucas, and they've only intensified in recent weeks(if that's even possible), but now she thinks she may not have been hiding it as well as she originally thought.

Of course they are the last to arrive after Peyton's little mishap while getting ready. Lucas joins the guys watching the football, a rarity in the Scott household. Today is probably the only day of the year it will appear in their television. Peyton joins Brooke at the kitchen counter, glad to put some space between her and Lucas, and asks Haley if there's anything she can do to help. She hopes her friends won't notice something is wrong.

"You can peel these," Haley says and pushes a pile of vegetables in front of her.

"Yay," she says unenthusiastically. "Why did I offer to help again?"

They sit down to eat once the game is over and they can finally drag the men away from the TV. Peyton ends up sitting betweens Lucas and Jamie, who is asking her a lot of question about the baby and talking to he stomach. Jamie taking all of her attention makes it easier to not focus on Lucas. She laughs as the baby shifts as if responding to Jamie's questions.

They're almost finished eating when Luke's phone rings and she can see from the caller id that it's Lindsey calling. He sighs before leaving the table to answer the call and she watches him go.

Peyton turns her attention back to the conversation at the table. They're talking about the movie. Things have been going pretty smoothly for the project, with the exception of finding a director. Luke had made a few last minute revisions to the script and was even able to participate in most of the auditions and screen tests.

"If all goes to plan we're scheduled to start filming mid January in New Orleans," Julian says.

"New Orleans? Why so far away?"

"It was the cheapest place to film that has everything we need," Julian explains. "We did look at filming close by, but we just couldn't afford it with the budget."

The conversation continues, but Peyton tunes everyone out. Lucas is going to be 12 hours away only a few weeks after she has the baby. He's been around so much lately that she hasn't thought about what would happen if he wasn't. He'd miss out on a lot if he left on the eight week shoot. Even if she gathers the courage to tell him the truth before he's supposed to leave i wouldn't change anything. He's invested so much time in this project and he's so proud of it that she couldn't ask him to not to go.

She snaps out of her thoughts when Lucas sits down beside her again. He's quiet and looks like he's stressing over something. The phone call mustn't have gone well.

"Are you okay?" she asks.

"Yeah, it's fine. Just been a long day."

"Tell me about it," she mutters.

… … …

There's a loud banning on her front door that jolts her out of a deep sleep. "What the hell?" she mutters and checks the time. _Seven AM_! It's way too early for her to be awake, but the noise continues so she rolls out of bed to see who is at the door. She hurls the door open and squints at the sudden brightness. She's fully prepared to yell at the person making so much noise so early, but she stops short when she sees who it is.

"Lucas?"

"Since when do you lock your door?" he asks impatiently.

"Since I was sleeping!" she retorts angrily. "What the hell are you doing here, Luke? It's seven in the morning." She hasn't seen him since thanksgiving more than a week ago. She hates to admit it, but she's actually missed him. She's found herself depending on him recently, more than she'd like to admit. Which probably isn't the best thing for her, to be getting so attached. He's still married to another woman and it's not like he's obligated to be around all the time. Not for any reason that he knows anyway, though she could change that if she just told him the truth.

"I found some shelves for you music," he says, patting the boxes beside him. She hadn't noticed them before.

"Luke, you shouldn't have," she says. She hasn't asked him to help her with any of this and it all just feels like a bit too much.

"It's nothing," he assures her. "Can I come in?"

She steps aside to let him into the house. "For future reference, there's a spare key under a pot plant. Use it next time, because if you wake me up this early again I may kill you," she jokes.

"You're going to do so well with the midnight feeds," he quips, carrying everything he needs into Peyton's bedroom.

"Shut up!" she laughs and follows behind him. She settles back into her bed and watches him as he works on assembling the shelves. "Explain to me exactly why you're doing this?"

"Because I nearly fell flat on my face the other week," he says as he moves the boxes containing her music to give him more space to work. "It's dangerous, Peyton and it would be really bad if you were the one to fall. I worry about you…and the baby." He's been worrying about something happening for the better part of a week. The thought of her falling while home alone and hurting herself or the baby… he just can't handle it.

Hearing him saying things like that to her is the reason she has such trouble with her feelings for him. It would be so much easier for her if he just kept those thoughts to himself. "How are the auditions going?" she asks, needing to change the subject.

"Good, there's uh, only a couple of roles left to cast."

"Have you found a Peyton yet?" She's curious to know if they've found her namesake yet.

"No, no Peyton yet."

"No one pretty enough?" she jokes.

"No one that would do you justice," he says sincerely. He looks away to put the finishing touches on the shelves and then he starts unboxing all of her music.

"You don't have to do that," she protests, getting off the bed and going to help him.

"It's no big deal," he shrugs. "You'll rearrange them if I don't do it correctly anyway. How do you file them again? Alphabetically by artist in genre and sub-genre?" he teases, making Peyton laugh. She can't believe he would remember that.

Peyton helps Luke unbox the albums and starts directing him where to put them. The baby's doing somersaults and Peyton stops what she's doing and puts her hands on her belly. She doesn't know why the baby is suddenly so active, but even after experiencing this feeling for months it still amazes her. This will probably be the only thing she will miss about being pregnant. She notices that Lucas has also stopped what he is doing and is watching as her stomach moves.

"What?"

"Nothing, it's just weird seeing it move like that," he says and Peyton realizes that Luke is the only one that hasn't felt the baby move, though he's probably the most important person that should.

"You should feel," she says.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course. I can't go anywhere without someone wanting to put their hands all over my stomach. I'm used to it," she takes his hand and places it on her stomach. She laughs when the baby flips again making her stomach move and Luke laughs too. They stand there, her music forgotten, with her hand covering his as he feels their baby kick for the first time

"It's pretty cool," he says

"Yeah, it is," she agrees.

… … …

Peyton has been going crazy in the house by herself for the past week. She's hardly had any contact with her friends. They've all been so busy with their own work lately and Haley won't even let her go into her own label. She's worried Peyton might get too stressed coming into work all day and she doesn't want any harm to come to Peyton or the baby. Haley insists that she can handle everything at the record label on top of teaching and being a wife and mother, but Peyton can tell the heavy workload is starting to take its toll on her friend, but she can't convince her to share any of the responsibility.

Brooke left for New York on business a few days ago. Baby Brooke is officially launching and there are a few last minute things she needs to take care of that can't be done in Tree Hill. Brooke promised before she left that she would be back in time for the baby's birth, and Peyton is holding her to it.

She hasn't seen Lucas since the day he installed the shelves for her. He's become so busy with the final preparations for the movie, while still coaching the ravens. He makes a point to call when he has the chance, but it's not really the same.

Peyton's never had the urge to clean, never a day in her life. Even when surrounded by mess. She hates cleaning more than anything. The comet's a good example. Peyton cannot remember the last time it was given a proper clean. Probably around the same time Larry had given it to her. Granted, she keeps it cleaner than it was when she was in high school, but it's still pretty messy.

But now, as she's sitting in the car after she's just been grocery shopping, the mess disgusts her and she feels the need to clean the car. After putting the groceries away she goes in search of cleaning products she's not even sure she owns. She finds everything she needs in the small laundry at the back of the house. Next she goes in search of garbage bags, she's positive that she'll need a few to hold all the rubbish that has accumulated in her car. With everything she needs in hand she heads back out to the comet to get started.

She gets rid of all the take out containers first, some she's not even sure how long they've been sitting there for. She can't believe she was able to stand this before.

She finds an old sketchbook in with all the junk that she hasn't seen in years and thought she lost. She can't remember the last time she even drew anything. It was a long time ago, long before she knew she was pregnant. She places the sketchbook aside with some other things she found that are work keeping. There's a concert ticket under the passenger's seat and she's about to throw it away, thinking it's just leftover from her job in LA, but on closer inspection she realizes it's from five years ago! The missing ticket from The Cure concert she and Lucas were supposed to go to. A loud laugh escapes her, they looked everywhere for that ticket and it's been here the whole time!

"Definitely keeping this," she says to herself and slips the ticket into the sketchbook for safe keeping. It's one of her last great memories from when she and Lucas were still together.

She vacuums the seats and floor and disinfects everything. It takes almost two hours before she's satisfied that the car is clean enough to bring the baby home in. She decides she may as well install the car seat while she's out here. After all, there's only a little more than a week until the baby's due. Thankfully, installing the car seat is a lot easier than assembling nursery furniture and she's able to do it herself, clicking the car sear into the base.

She goes inside to rest when she's done. Her lower back is hurting from being up for so long, but the house is dirty and she feels compelled to clean it too. She can't let it go, it has to be done and it dawns on her what she's doing. Nesting.

She strips the sheets from her bed and does the baby's bedding as well, even though it was freshly cleaned when she put it on a few days ago. She scrubs the whole house from top to bottom. It takes her the rest of the afternoon and when she's finally done she's exhausted. Se swears she will never do anything like that again as she collapses back onto the couch. The pain in her back is worse and she knows she'll have to take it easy for the rest of the night.

Her stomach growls violently and she realizes it's already after seven and she hasn't eaten since breakfast. She's too tired to make anything herself so she decides to pick something up from that Italian place. She's had an unusual craving for their food lately.

She drives past Tric on her way home and sees that the lights are still on at the studio. Haley mentioned to her the other day that she has a few things she needs Peyton's signature on and that's she'd bring it over for Peyton to sign when she has the chance, but Peyton decides to get it out of the way now to save Haley the trip. She parks the comet and makes her way up the stairs into her office. Mia and Haley are in the sound booth when she arrives and Peyton goes to see what they're working on.

"What are you doing here?" Haley asks when she notices Peyton. "I told you to stay home and rest!"

"I was out getting dinner and saw the lights on. I thought I'd stop by and check on everything. It is still my label you know!" Peyton quips.

"Geez, Peyton. You're like twice the size as when I saw you last week!" Mia laughs.

"Thanks, Mia," Peyton says glaring at the younger girl. As if she wasn't already aware she looks like a beached whale. "Very encouraging."

"I'm here to help."

Peyton spends a few minutes listening to what the two have been working on before she tells Haley she's going to get the paperwork out of the way.

"Are you sure you're up to that?" Haley asks.

"I'm fine," she says. "Nothing bad will happen if I spend a couple of hours here instead of at home." She goes through the paperwork Haley left for her and then starts sorting though the demos that have arrived in recent weeks. Some of them have a lot of potential and she makes note of the groups to contact when she returns to work full time after the baby's born.

The pain in her lower back is getting worse and she figures it's just from being on her feet all day, she hasn't exactly taken it easy tonight, but then there's a tightening in her abdomen and a sharp pain follows. She doesn't think much of it. Her doctor said it's normal to feel a little discomfort with braxton hicks contractions towards the end of her pregnancy, and she's been feeling them on and off for most of the day.

"Ow," she groans about fifteen minutes later when she feels another stabbing pain that has only increased in intensity. She starts to wonder if its not Braxton hicks, but possibly the real thing. She starts timing and sure enough there's another contraction fifteen minutes later and then another ten minutes after that.

"Haley," she calls, making her way into the sound booth.

"Yeah," Haley answers, not taking her eyes off Mia in the studio.

"I need you to take me to the hospital. I think I'm in labor."

**... ... ...**

**So it's that time! Boy? Girl? Names? What do you think? Let me know in a review. If you've read this story before you probably already know, but I'm curious to see what new readers might think.**


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